The Extinct Color
by Airi-lin
Summary: I always want to spread my wings and fly wherever I want. I have been caged for years but I have had enough. From today on, I am a free man. I will travel to a land that I have been dreamt of since I was eighteen, but what I don't expect is this journey will change my life forever. [Boy x boy]
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N : Feel free to point out any mistake in this story. I know there are lots. It was so hard writing this in English, I think I will just continue it in my own language...ToT (just my whishful thinking though)_**

 ** _And don't worry, this one will be short not like my other story. Hahaha...stay tune!_**

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 _War._

 _War is a child born from the dark side of humanity._

 _Greed for power and wealth,_

 _envy for prosperous land,_

 _fear of being rivaled and crushed._

 _Soldiers claim to fight for their birth land, but is it entirely true?_

 _How about soldiers who fight in another land, trying to take over and colonize it?_

 _They take away so many innocent lives._

 _They make people their slaves,_

 _to be sacrificed, to be thrown to their death._

 _Is all of that solely for their birth land or it's for the greediness of their government?_

 _-x-_

A soldier walked confidently through an empty corridor. His armor making a loud noise with every step he took, probably annoyed the occupant in that particular hall, but the owner didn't look like he cared.

"Oi, old man Onoki!"

The man called Onoki looked up from a letter he was currently writing in annoyance. He had a short brown hair and seemed in his late fifty.

Onoki shot his rude guest a glare before speaking, "Have you ever heard the word knocking, Deidara?" The man growled dangerously to the newcomer, Deidara, who just ignored him and took an empty seat in front of him.

"I want to leave the kingdom for sometimes, un," Deidara started. "I want to travel to Southern land." He played with a feather pen on Onoki's desk indifferently, like he didn't just said he want to stop being a soldier and became a clown instead.

Onoki narrowed his eyes. "Why do you want to go south? There is nothing there except water and uninhabited small islands." The man continued to write his letter again, didn't take the other seriously. He was used to his pupil random requests anyway. He just needed to ignore him and Deidara would eventually leave him alone.

"I just feel suffocated here. I need a break, un," Deidara answered. "And I'm being serious." His tone changed from laid-back tone to the more serious one.

Onoki just sighed and stopped his writing again. This pupil of his really made his patient go thin. If not from his babble about his art, then from his random requests that mostly didn't quite make any sense, including the current one.

Why Deidara wanted to travel to south when most of people avoid was beyond what he could comprehend. The Southern land just consisted of small islands that would disappear as soon as the sea levels raised, usually just sand, rocks, a couple of trees, really not worth the risk to go there. The islands scattered in the middle of the ocean that spread wide as far as the eyes could see. The journey though, it was dangerous. Not just because of the frequent storm, but also the sharp corals that could destroy the ship that sailing through them. If you weren't familiar with the water around it, you were dead.

So why his pupil wanted to travel to the Southern area, Onoki really didn't have the slightest idea.

"Why?" He asked. "If you want to go suicidal, just jump from the highest tower in this castle or something." And Deidara laughed.

"You really can make a good joke, old man." Deidara swept a fake tear from his eyes and sniffed. "But, no. I'm not gonna commit suicide, un. I simple want to get out of here and travel to a new world I have not had the chance to see," he explained, a sheer determination shone in his blue sky eyes.

"No," Onoki replied curtly.

"Why not, un?" Deidara slammed the desk with his hands, his voice raising an octave.

The two men stared at each other, one with hate and one with anger. "Because we are in the middle of war and _you_ -" Onoki pointed his index finger at Deidara, "-have duty to defense your birth land from enemy. That's why!"

Deidara couldn't take it anymore. It had been three years ago the last time Western people attacked and they had never been heard again since. He was sick of his duty. He didn't want to be a soldier in the first place, so why should he stay at the castle or at the borderland to do a boring patrolling duty every day? He wanted to become an artist, not a soldier. However, his step father, the man that was sitting in front of him right now had a different plan for his life.

"No…" Deidara gritted his teeth. "Just this once I will not comply with your demand, un." The young soldier stood up and started to walk away from his step father office.

"If you go, I won't consider you my son again and you will be stripped from your position in the military!" Onoki threatened with a dangerous voice that clearly told he wasn't just talk, but Deidara just snorted. Without looking back, he said, "Then so be it, un." Then slammed the door shut.

He had made up his mind and nothing could stop him right now.

-x-

Deidara quietly put on a saddle on his horse, along with several sacks holding his clothes, food, and other necessity for his journey. He also brought along his shield and sword that was safely sheathed around his hips. He had been trained as a soldier since he was a child, and the first lesson he got from the old man Onoki was 'never let your guard down'. Deidara saw there was no harm to listen to that one advice so he always did just that.

It was midnight, the other soldiers were fast asleep on their bed, except them who had a patrol duty, but Deidara had taken care of them. It wasn't that he was sneaking out, no. He had said to Onoki that he would go beside his treat, so if he got caught, he would just tell the soldier that he wasn't a soldier anymore. Big deal.

The young soldier stroked his horse body with care before hopping up to its back and yanked the reins. His goal now was to get to the port in time.

Wind blew harshly as the speed the young soldier rode his horse in, his long blonde hair wavering behind him. Horse steps echoed breaking the silent of the night. The moon was hiding behind the clouds; the only source of light was from a street lamps that placed every several meters at the sidewalk. Deidara didn't notice all of that; he was in a race with time. He hoped he wasn't too late. He took a shortcut through a dark alley passing some homeless beggars that were gathering around a small fire to warm themselves and headed to the outskirt of the capital town.

As soon as the blonde arrived at the port, he searched for a man that his Intel had told him owned a cargo ship. The ship would be the only one that departed to the next place in his list, a port in the south of Eastern land. Deidara found him barely in time, but he made it at least. He breathed in relieve.

He paid the man some money and hopped in the cargo ship. His horse could find the way back to the base by itself, so he didn't bothered.

Currently the young soldier was staring out into the nothingness of the ocean on the deck. He still half believed that he was out of Onoki's grasp. He was a free man now. In his twenty years old age, he was finally could do anything his heart desired.

He had planned this journey since he was eighteen, but he didn't have the courage to tell Onoki back then. He knew his step father wouldn't allow him living because he was one of the top soldiers directly below Onoki's command. He was the step son of the strongest knight in the entire Eastern land and also the one who had the head knight himself as a mentor, so everyone expected perfection from him. It was hard.

The blonde sighed. It wasn't that he would be gone forever, that old man was exaggerated everything.

Deidara was a war orphan and Onoki was kind enough to take Deidara as his son when he was twelve, also did as far as to teach him swordsmanship, war strategy, everything for him to be a fine soldier in the future. Deidara was grateful for it. He did his best to make Onoki didn't regret his decision for taking him as his son but sometimes, he needed a break for a life that was forced to him. Too bad it ended up like this.

Deidara stretched his stiff muscle with a delightful moan. No need to think about the past now, he thought to himself. It was depressing. He better enjoyed his travel, even though he could die in the process, it was worth it.

"I'M A FREEEE MAANN!" the blonde shouted to the ocean, lifting both hands up in the air. He secretly always wanted to do that.

"Shut up, we want to sleep!" A voice growled from nowhere made the blonde shut up.

-x-

Deidara hummed quietly, his eyes reading from a small book in his hand as he stepped down from the cargo ship to the dock. It was his agenda for his trip. He gave a checked list for the things that had been done then shoved the book back to his pants pocket

He was now in a small port town at the border between Eastern and Southern land. The town had a small population and almost all of its resident was either a fisherman or a sailor. The town condition itself was quite pathetic plus their geographical location that situated in the southernmost part of big land really didn't help. It was one of the towns that had been neglected by the royal family.

The sun was already set and Deidara needed a place to rest for the night. Tomorrow would be a busy day for him. For that sole reason, the blonde roamed the town to find an inn, and luckily, he found one.

The next morning, a man with a long blonde hair was seen sitting at a small coffee shop with a circle around his eyes. His hair was like a bird nest, but the man didn't even lift a hand to try fixing it. Some women who walked pass him giggled and started gossiping about the stranger.

Deidara grumbled to himself and gulped down his warm coffee in one go. His back hurt, he had a mild headache, such a good morning to wake up and that was all because of that cheap inn.

The blonde rested his head on the table, tired.

Last night he didn't get any sleep at all. He tossed around on the bed trying to find a comfortable position that allowed him to sleep to no avail. The bed wasn't even a bed; it was so hard like sleeping on the floor. Deidara wondered what the bed was made of. He even couldn't find a pillow anywhere. Really a shitty inn, it should be closed soon to save people from misery.

After having a breakfast in the same coffee shop, the blonde tried to find another inn that wasn't as shitty, but he couldn't find one.

"Shitty town, un," Deidara swore.

He only had one choice left then. He needed to find people who wanted to sail with him to the Southern land before night came or he would be forced to spend another night in that pathetic excuse of an inn.

Deidara shuddered.

The blonde wondered around the port, asking any man he met in the way, but no one seemed to be interested in his offer. Even the most bulky man that seemed strong and fearless rejected it. They just laughed at him, calling him stupid and suicidal kid. It was even harder than he thought it would be.

"Hei, kid!" A young man called out for him from a distance.

Deidara eyes perked up, looking at the young looking man approached him. Maybe this one is brave enough to sail with him, he thought hopefully.

"Do you want to buy fish, kid? It's fresh from the ocean!" The man lift his hand to show a large fish he and the other fishermen had successfully caught. Deidara sweat dropped.

"No." He pouted, making the older man laughed at his childish behavior.

"I'm just kidding, kid!" The man patted him on the shoulder. "Heard you are searching for a crew to sail to the Southern land?"

Deidara bobbed his head in confirmation. "Yeah, un! But until now, I haven't found anyone who wanted to go there," Deidara said dejectedly. "Do you want to join me, un?" He looked up to the man expectantly.

The man laughed. "Ah, sorry kid," He scratched his cheek and offered him an apologetic grin. "I can't help you there, but maybe if you visit the tavern, you can find someone."

"What tavern?" Deidara asked. The man pointed out at a small building near the dock. Deidara eyes followed the man finger at found the building he was mentioned. "That bar is the place where sailors and fishermen usually gathered," The man started to explain. " You can find even the craziest sailor there and maybe one of them one to join your adventure."

Deidara nodded. "Thanks for the information, sir. It's really helping, un." The blonde thrust his hand forward and the two shook hands.

"No problem, kid," the fisherman grinned again, but then his face became serious. "I don't know what you want to achieve by sailing there, but don't waste your life, kid. There was nothing there except death waiting for you."

"I know," Deidara smiled a little. "But nothing can change my mind, un."

The other sighed at the blonde's stubbornness. The kid reminded him so much with his own son, free spirit with bubbly personality, always craving for adventure. He had never seen his son again after he went to Western land. Stupid child.

"I wish you good luck then, kid," the man said sincerely. Deidara didn't know if he was imagine it or not, but the other sounded kinda sad.

"Thanks again, kind sir."

With that the both man parted to be on their own way.

Deidara was back roaming the small town, killing time until the tavern was opened. He was bored to death. There was almost nothing in this town. No butcher, no blacksmith, no candy store for children, and the most important thing was no art store. Deidara almost tore his hair apart out of boredom but decided not too. He was proud of his look after all. He could say he was a women magnet back in his hometown. He had a long beautiful blonde hair that hung loose until reached his waist; blue eyes that match the summer sky, one could say he was girly, but on the contrary, he was not. He had manly-handsome face and perfect healthy body. He was a soldier. Soldier must work out to keep their body fit for war.

Women always came to him and who was he to deny their company. Even he had slept with some aristocrat's wives that were neglected by their husband because they were too busy with politics affair.

What a life.

Deidara looked up at the cloudy sky. He had stopped at the small park sometime ago and took a seat on an empty bench. Little sparrows flew around him looking for food, several flowerbeds scattered around the park unorganized. The blonde inhaled deeply the fresh air he failed to notice before. At least this town was a peaceful one. He concluded before sleep took him.

-x-

The tavern that night was full of people, drinking, playing card, singing at the top of their lung, all of them looked so happy and enjoying the life after their hard work, except one, that's it.

Deidara sat at the bar, a glass of cheap beer in front of him, untouched. He was too accustomed to the luxury life he had before, thus he found the liquor in front of him disgusting. He used to drink wine or high quality beer not a cheap one with a gross taste.

The blonde glanced at a group that was seated at the back of the tavern. He had observed them for a quite sometimes. The group was laughing and talking to each other like any other people in the tavern, but what made Deidara interest in them was their clothes. They looked fancy, not like other sailors or fishermen in the tavern. They reminded him of pirate somehow or maybe a loaded merchant.

One of them stood up and walked to the bar. Deidara hurriedly averted his gaze somewhere else so he didn't get caught staring. The man with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail sat beside him and ordered a beer for himself.

Deidara nervously drank his liquor a little bit.

"What do you want?" Deidara heard the man spoke.

"Huh?"

"I know you have been staring at us, so drop the act," the man said dangerously but he didn't even look at him when he spoke. Deidara gulped, feeling quite intimidated by the man before him.

"Sorry, I'm just searching for a ship to sail to Southern land, un."

"Southern land?" This piqued the man's interest. Deidara nodded. "What do you want to do there?" The other asked again.

"Just want to do some exploring, you know?" The ex-soldier held his glass at its rim and swayed it in circular motion absentmindedly. "Want to get out of the surfeit of life, un."

The man smiled knowingly. "I think I know what you mean," he said and drank his beer. There was an awkward silent between them after that, but Deidara didn't mind. He drank the gross beer to ease his nerve a bit and wait. He got the feeling this man had more to say. He was right.

"So, I think I will give you a ride to the Southern land."

Deidara turned around to face the man in a swift motion, his eyes widened. He couldn't believe his luck at the moment. "Really?"

"Yep. My crew would love to try a new thing once in a while," the man said with ease.

"Thank you so much Mister…"

"Inoichi."

"Inoichi, sir." The man just waved as if it wasn't a big deal, but for Deidara, it was everything.

Both man still talked about random thing after that. Turned out Inoichi was the captain of the crew. He was a merchant but an explorer at the same time. The man had been at so many places; Eastern land, Northern land, even Western land which is the enemy territory. Deidara was in awe listening to his story. They talked until it was time to rest for the night.

Deidara requested to join the man's crew tonight so they could depart as soon as the sun raised as schedule. Inoichi agreed. Deidara was grateful he didn't need to sleep at the shitty inn but instead in the ship cabin with Inoichi's crew.

The morning came so fast, Deidara didn't felt like he was sleeping at all. The blonde came out to the deck and saw that people were busy running back and forth preparing the ship.

Deidara, who had zero experience in sailing, just watched the ship crew worked, sometimes helping when he was requested.

The sun was high in the sky; the temperature on the ship was so hot. The air was moist and heavy, even the wind couldn't reduce the heat. People chose to go shirtless and rested in the shade. Deidara chose to jump to the ocean. It looked really tempting and cold.

Deidara wanted, needed a cold shower, badly. However, he had already showered ten minutes ago. The blonde groaned and threw his back against the wooden floor, hands crossed behind his head as a pillow. He sulked in the shade. He, like the others, didn't bother to wear any shirt; his pants rolled up to his knees. Anything to reduce the heat.

Deidara closed his eyes trying to enjoy this new experience than complaining like a brat. It was his decision after all so he needed to suck it up.

He really couldn't suck it up.

Deidara rested his chin on the palm of his hand, a pout adoring his face as he watched the ocean he had come to hate. It had been a week since he first boarding Inoichi's ship but nothing big happened. They had stopped at several islands but nothing much could be found there except white sand that was so smooth liked you were walking on a silk, rocks, some coconut trees, small crabs, seashells.

If he was five years old kid, maybe he would be excited collecting the seashells. Unfortunately, he wasn't. And after the sixth islands they visited, Deidara was sick of everything about Southern land.

Onoki was right. There was nothing in this land.

Deidara banged his head at the wooden railing of the ship. He was starting to regret his decision to traveling here. He even sacrificed his luxury life at the capital, his job as a high-ranking soldier to come to this wasted land. How can he be so stupid! He should hear Onoki's words.

Inoichi had come to him early in the morning to inform him that they needed to go back to the port town to resupply. And here they were, in the journey back to the previous town with empty hands. He felt bad for Inoichi and crew that had helped him greatly. He owed them one.

At night of the same day, Deidara jerked awake by a blaring sound of thunder and stomping of frantic footsteps above him, people yelled something and then another thunder crashed. Deidara quickly got up from his bed and went to the deck only to found water filling up the floor deck and the rain pouring down from the sky that magically had been transformed to a rampant black clouds that producing tornadoes and lighting which stroke dangerously close to their ship.

Deidara was in awe for a moment looking at the chaos in front of him before finally regained his sense and he was in panic himself.

Deidara tried to locate Inoichi in the mess of people but he couldn't find a man. Suddenly a big wave crashed into the ship, making it swayed. Deidara lost his balance and his body thrown harshly and collide with the railing. He whimpered.

If he was first in awe looking at the sky, Deidara felt himself scared shitless looking at the ocean below him. He, the experience solder that didn't even bat an eyelash when killing people or looking at his comrades cruelly slaughtered, scared of raging ocean.

The endless pit of black water swirled ready to swallow him up. He didn't know what was waiting for him within. But he felt his body shaking, either from cold or fear he didn't know. He was already soaked to the bone, wet blonde hair plastered around his face.

"I-Inoichi, un!" Deidara tried to shout but it came out more like a squeak. Deidara clutched the railing so hard for fear falling down to the angry ocean.

Another lighting flashed, and in a second of light Deidara's heart stopped. A big wave, much bigger than the previous and higher than their ship was about to crashed into them.

 _I'm so sorry Onoki, Inoichi, the crew…_

That was the last in the blonde's mind before everything went black.

-x-

A pair of blue eyes blinked.

There was something strange in his mouth.

The owner of the eyes blinked again.

He couldn't move, what happened actually?

His finger twitched slightly.

Warm.

He was sleepy.

The pair of blue eyes closed once again.

-x-

The first time Deidara woke up, he realized that his mouth was full of sand. He threw them up and coughing violently after that making his head pounding painfully. He touched his head to find a bump at the back of his head and large bruise on the forehead, oozing blood, but nothing serious. He then looked around confusedly at the strange place only to find a beautiful bay he had ever seen in his whole life.

The bay was surrounded by highlands, covered by green rainforest. The water was the gradation of all blue colors and green that was shallow enough you could even see the colorful corals underneath.

Deidara was awestruck, gaping like a fish out of water.

A groan not too far from where he was laying woke the blonde up from his trance. He looked at the source of the voice and found Inoichi and several other crew members lay unmoved on the sand just like him before.

He rushed to the blonde man's side first and inspected him for any severe injuries.

Deidara sighed in relieve when he found none.

The ex-soldier then continued to check the others, doing the same like he did with Inoichi. None of them seemed dying, it was a miracle.

Deidara laid back on the sand, letting the warm of the sun enveloped his wet body. It felt relaxing. Before he knew it, Deidara was already back into the dreamland.

-x-

"The ship miraculously didn't take too much damage." Inoichi informed his crew at their ship current condition. "We have the equipment to fix it and wood from the trees around this island."

All members nodded.

Inoichi brought out a map from his pocket and spread it on the sand. The crew jostled around to take a good look at it.

"This island didn't appear on the map." A strange excitement sparked in Inoichi's green eyes. "But I think we are around this location." He circled a specific spot on the map with a branch.

"I will make sure about this tonight when the stars come out." The crew whispered to each other about the possibility they had found a new island. It would be a big news. Also, they could get rich if they inform the palace about their finding. The island was, of course, located in Southern land, but the land was known to be deserted. They, an Eastern, had found this beautiful island so automatically, this island would be theirs.

"Now I will tell you your job," Inoichi said, cutting their discussion short.

Deidara didn't care about his job from Inoichi; he wasn't his crew to begin with. He just in for the ride, that's all. Fortunately, Inoichi understood what Deidara wanted and gave him the scouting job. Bless his soul.

The blonde couldn't be happier in his life. This was all he could ask for. An adventure at the new island, finding new things that no one hadn't been able to see before, not to mention the island was like a paradise. He bitted his green apple and moaned as the sweet taste smear on his tongue. Even the fruits here were so tasty.

Deidara brought along his sword and shield every time he went scouting. Who knew what kind of animal he would face in the deep of the thick forest? And also he could go hunting and brought back some meat for them to eat.

In no time, the ex-soldier had found a water spring they could use to drink not too far from their camp and a small river where they could wash their dirty body. Deidara also found a new species of plants and animals here and there. He was enjoying his self.

When Deidara got back to the camp, the crew was having a dinner, sitting in a circle around a bonfire, singing and chatting happily. Deidara joined them with a big grinned adoring his face. That was the same with the following days, Deidara would go scouting and hunting since morning and came back before sunset.

Five days had passed in a blink of eyes and Deidara barely knew the entire island; just a small part, yes.

Their ship was almost fixed; he was running out of time but Deidara had a plan. He knew there was a high mountain in the middle of the island and today, he would go there and looked the layout of the island from above.

Deidara had told Inoichi he wouldn't be back for days to climb the mountain. Inoichi had first didn't allow him to climb, it was too dangerous. However, Deidara insisted. He had made a deal with the man that if he hadn't been back in two weeks, they could leave without him. The other agreed.

It was three days ago and Deidara now was halfway until he arrive at the mountain top. He walked carefully along a footpath through a cliff, didn't dare to look down and chose to glue himself at the cliff wall on his left side. The scenery from his position was majestic, but too bad for the blonde; he was too busy maintaining his balance than to enjoy the view that spread in front of him.

Suddenly a big shadow fell upon him, making the blonde stopped death in his track and looked up. Deidara gasped.

A dragon.

Not just a dragon but a _red_ dragon. The color that had been extinct from civilization in centuries, that only the blonde knew the name and what it was like from history book.

 _Red_.

Deidara lost his ability to speak, his mouth hung opened and he just watched the dragon flew away gracefully before diving low and disappeared from the view. He always thought that dragons just existed in a fairy tale, just one of the creatures born from human imagination. He never even dreamt they really existed in this world.

And the dragon's color….Deidara shook his head to make sure he wasn't dreaming. It was vibrant red, so beautiful, so different from what he saw in the text book long ago. The red in the book wasn't even close to the original red color after he saw the real red with his own eyes. But he knew the color called red, because he never saw the color as beautiful as that. Maybe if the color wasn't extinct, it would be a common color, but no. Red had been said to be the color of Gods and Goddesses.

The color of power, violence, danger, anger, passion, desire.

A new fire lit inside the Deidara's heart. He wanted to catch that dragon and brought it back to Eastern land. He would be a hero, he would be acknowledged by all human population in the whole world. Even the Western people would bow down to him, Deidara, the dragon hunter. The blonde thought greedily.

A shit-eating grin spread across his face. Wasting no time, the blonde hurriedly found any rock which tough enough to support his body. He found one and tied it with a rope. After making sure it tightly bound, Deidara climb down the cliff. He didn't have time to take the same way as he came. The dragon would be already flown away to unreachable place for sure.

As soon as the blonde reached the ground, he ran through the forest as fast as his feet could take him, a compass in hand. He had already memorized the last location he saw the red dragon landed and that exactly where he was going now. It was already night time, but Deidara didn't even felt tired or sleepy. Maybe because of the adrenaline rushed and determination that made him kept running.

Deidara finally arrive at his destination, a vacant area in the middle of the forest, cleaned from trees. There was a large lake in the middle, reflected the moon and stars at the sky on its surface. I was a beautiful scenery.

The blonde bent down and placed his hands on his knees for support, he was gasping for air. His lung felt like burning. He had been running without stopping for like forever. The ex-soldier swept the sweat from his forehead and squint his eyes around the place to find the dragon.

He found it.

His heart started to thump loudly in his chest. Deidara unsheathed his sword and slowly approaching the creature that had been lying on the grass across the lake.

It was from a fairy talel book that he knew dragon's weakness was his belly where the hard skin didn't exist there. Deidara didn't know for sure if it was true, it was just a children book for crying out loud! But he didn't have any choice but to try it.

Deidara eyeing the creature that sounded asleep from a distance. The creature was bigger than the last time he remembered when Deidara looked at it up close, and more menacing, with hard skin and thorns at the end of its tail. Its vibrant red color became darker and seemed to have a soft glow under the moonlight.

The blonde's hand had become sweaty and shaking a bit. He wouldn't deny that he was afraid of the creature. Heck, he would wet his pants now if he was a normal person, but he was Deidara, a man that had been trained as a soldier for as long as he live, so his pants stayed dry.

Taking several deep breaths and collecting all his courage, the blonde approached the dragon and with all his might stabbed the creature at its stomach then moved his swords upward making a big opened gash along the dragon' stomach . The reaction was immediate.

The dragon eyes flew open and a roar tearing apart the eerie silent of the night. Birds flew away from trees around them to the open sky, sensing danger approached. The dragon flung his thorny tail to its attacker but Deidara saw it coming. He skillfully dodged the attack and stepped back a few meters away outside the radius of the dragon's tail reach.

The dragon stood up from its lying position, blood pouring out from its open wound. Its eyes swept around the field madly, searching for enemy.

Deidara was once again left speechless. The dragon's blood was also red. It was glistening in a sick beauty when the moon light fell at the pouring liquid. Deidara was like hypnotized by the blood; he failed to notice that the dragon was attacking him again with its claw, sweeping through the bush he was currently hiding. Fortunately, Deidara was quick enough to defense himself by his shield but the hard claw managed to pierce through it, scratching the blonde's front and made him bleed.

With his tired and injured body, Deidara once again swung his sword; aiming for the dragon's stomach but his attack, managed to be stopped by a swing of the creature's claw that collided with the blonde's body.

Deidara flew through the air and his body slammed to the hard ground several meters away from the dragon, unmoving. The creature that saw that his enemy might have been died, flapped his large wings several times before took off to the safer place.

-x-

In the middle of downpour, a male with vibrant red hair shambled off through a damp forest sluggishly. His right hand pressed against a fresh gash on his stomach, trying to prevent more blood loss. He felt his conscious vading away slowly but surely.

His body swayed a little, forcing him to lean on a tree for support.

"That damn blonde…" The male growled menacingly, a murderous glint flashed in his grayish-brown eyes.

He didn't expect there was a human in the deserted island like this, so he lowered his defense. How wrong he was. He cursed himself for his stupidity.

He had flown away from his birth land solely for searching his sisters that had been missing since years ago. There were only five of them left since the decease of Kushina and Tayuya. All of it because of the damn human. The redhead male's left hand clenched into a fist until his knuckle turned white.

Nagato had agreed to stay at home to take care of Gaara, the youngest of them all and it was his job to bring the missing family members home. He hoped it wasn't too late like it was with Tayuya. He must not fail this time.

The male coughed violently and a fresh blood trailing down from his mouth. The blonde stabbed him deeper than he thought, but he was lucky the human didn't aimed for his heart, he would definitely dead in a second.

The redhead male slide down the tree and his body slumped to the wet ground, in no time stained it with a red color from his blood. His breath became labored. He just needed to rest for a moment and let his body healed. His kind had an ability to heal themselves faster than any creature that lived on earth, so he should be ok. He just hope he injured the human badly enough for him to be uncapable of moving for sometimes.

The male pressed his wound again and moaned in pain. It hurts…God it hurts so much he wanted to just die. He gasped for air and focused what had left from his power on his wound to ease the pain even just a little.

After having all power left him, the redhead then fell into unconsciousness.

-x-

Deidara opened his eyes slowly from the wet feeling on his face. He groaned slightly. His entire body was in pain. Pale blue blood mixed with mud and rain pooling out on the ground from his wound.

Deidara closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. Not just he was failed to catch the dragon, he was also successfully injured himself in the process. He was lucky he didn't die, but he couldn't move a single body part. How could he come back to Inoichi and the crew in his current condition? He didn't want to live in this island alone. He hated to be alone.

Maybe if he got enough rest, his body would heal faster Deidara conclude, so he closed his eyes and forced himself to sleep on the damp wet ground.

The blonde lay unmoving on the ground for two more days before he could move his feet to find food.

Deidara had cleaned himself at the lake and changed his clothes to cover his wound before he went back to Inoichi. He had drowned his shield in the lake, and destroyed anything that could be use as proof that a dragon had been seen in the island.

That dragon was his.

He wouldn't let anyone know that dragon existed. He would be back to this island with more preparation and made sure to capture it himself.

With that plan in mind, Deidara walked back to the camp as if nothing had happened. Inoichi welcomed him and told him that their ship had been ready to set sail once again. Deidara gave the man a happy grinned and in no time the crew was back on the ship.

On the deck, Deidara looked back at the island that slowly became smaller and smaller. He promised himself he would be back for his dragon.

 _You are mine, un._


	2. Chapter 2

**Dedicated to Zane, The Secret Sal, Sasori, and Deidara.**

* * *

The big land of Earth had been divided into four lands since the first Earth war erupted centuries ago. The first land was Northern land, where all its citizen had white hair or pale color hair that close to white. They loved peace above anything else and were a very religious civilization. The Northern people were usually called oracle. They were told to have a colorless blood. They land had been prosperous and in a peaceful state since ever as a give from their Gods. White color, which represented their civilization, symbolized purity, innocence, kindness, safety, and sincerity.

The second was called Eastern land. People who lived in this part of Earth had hair color that vary from blonde, light brown, dark brown and auburn. They were like common citizen; work hard for living, reading newspaper in the morning with a cup of coffee, exchanged greetings with neighbors, went to tavern to have fun, etc. They have pale blue blood. The color of yellow symbolized their land that was East, one of the four cardinal directions where the sun raised. It had meaning of hope, happiness, optimism, enthusiasm, confidence, creativity, egoistical, deceitful, and jealousy.

The third land was Southern land, the desolated land. It mostly consisted of water and small islands that uninhabitable.

The last land, the fourth, was the Western land. All the citizen living in this land had a black hair and black blood. They were called the sinner. Most of the people in Western land had this ambition to exceed Gods and Goddesses, to become the rule of the world. They were experimenting with plants, animals, even human to unlock the secret of life. Their knowledge about everything was more advanced than any other land and that had made them a feared enemy. Black color symbolized power, fear, strength, elegance, death, evil, aggression, and rebellion.

However, nothing in this world was black and white.

The Northern people that worship peace was actually just an apathetic people that didn't care about the world outside their peaceful land. Their land was blessed by their deity's power to prevent any evil to infiltrate inside but they didn't even want to lend a hand to help any war refugee because of fear they could be accused taking side. They were just thinking of their own land safety.

Without intervention from Northern land, the Eastern had been in a war with Western people on their own for centuries, both party had had their own lost in the wars. Innocent people like civilians lost their lives in the war; some was kidnapped to become slaves. Poverty and starvation was everywhere as the country finance all flew to support the sustainability of war.

One could say that the Western was the cause of misery in their land because they were the sinner. Their ambition to ruler over the world was incredible. But who they called the sinner was actually cared about their own people. When the two big lands didn't engage in war with each other, their ruler tried so hard to rebuild their land and helping their people to get by after so much loss from the war.

It was very different from the Eastern. Their ruler was so corrupt and cruel. They were just a horde of egoistic aristocrats who thought only for themselves and not for their people. People of Eastern lived in the tyranny of their own ruler for as long as they remebered.

If someone looked at this, who did they think the sinner actually was?

Like they said, where there is good, there is also evil and vice versa.

-x-

Deidara was staring blankly at a stain on his room ceiling that looked a lot like Onoki's face from his lying position on the bed. It had been a week ago since he was back at capital town and went to his step father's house to collect his remaining belonging; because he wasn't Onoki's son anymore.

Onoki that currently had a day rest in his house quite surprised to see the blonde were back already from his journey and that was only one and half month. Like Deidara had guessed, Onoki had exaggerated his request; the old man thought he would go for at least one year. Deidara sweat dropped.

So here he was, back at his old job and position as a high-rank soldier and Onoki's step son. Deidara didn't know if he must be grateful or not.

He shifted his position so he was on his side. His mind flew to the dragon he found at the Southern island.

This past week all his dreams had red in it; red plants, red sky, red dragon, red and more red. It made him crazy. If he went to that island again, could he encounter that red dragon again? Most likely not. The creature would find it was too dangerous to stay there and flew away to God knew where.

The young soldier sighed and closed his eyes. He really wanted to see the beautiful creature again. He would search for his dragon to the ends of the world if he must.

Deidara didn't know since when he fell asleep but he was suddenly awakened. Confused as to what had disturbed his slumber, the young soldier was ready to continue his nap when suddenly he felt his bed shook.

Earthquake? It seemed just a small earthquake though, so he shouldn't be bothered and just slept; Deidara thought in his sleepy state.

Unexpectedly a loud explosion was heard making everything in his room shook. Deidara nearly got a heart attack.

The blonde jolted up into a sitting position, blinking rapidly. His mind worked hard to process what the hell had just happened. He rushed to the window in his room and looked outside; billows of smoke raising high into the sky in the distance. Something wasn't right.

Hurriedly Deidara wore his armor and grabbed his sword and new shield, then dashed out from his house to find Onoki at the castle.

"What happened here, old man, un?" The blonde burst into the meeting room where Onoki usually discussed war strategy with his knights, only to have his face collide with a firm chest.

"Ah, Deidara isn't it?" A cheerful voice said, making the young soldier looked up and he gulped.

"Ki-king Yagura," the blonde stammered in the present of their ruler.

The King stood in front of him with a too happy smile directed to the young soldier, but his purple eyes said warning.

"Have you ever been taught about manner, Dei~da~ra?" He said, giving emphasis in every syllable in the young soldier's name; a wide smile still adoring his youth face.

"Sorry, your Highness, un." Deidara casted his eyes down. It was forbidden for a soldier in his rank to have eyes contact with the king after all.

King Yagura just smiled then without another word, continued on his merry way. Deidara bowed with respect.

The man was scary as hell; scarier than an angry Onoki, which is saying something. And that smile of his….It was more like a psychopath smile than anything. That's why the King was usually called a wolf in a sheep coat; hiding his rotten character behind a smile and innocent face.

After the King exited the room, Deidara expected Onoki would mock him and said 'what have I told you' with his triumphant smirk but he received nothing. The man was currently stood near a large table in the middle of the room, a map spreading on the table with yellow and black small flags scattered all over it. He looked beyond furious. A scroll which usually contained a report from soldier at patrolling duty was clutched tightly in his hand.

"Old man?" Deidara approached his step father that was currently so out of character.

"We are under attack," the man grimaced.

Deidara tilted his head, didn't understand why that was matter. Onoki had spent a lot of his time making up strategy to encounter if something like this happened. He was usually confident with his war strategy. The head knight's strategy had never failed them before in defending their land. But now, the man was nowhere near confident; his face slightly pale and a sweat trailing down from his temple.

Onoki threw the scroll in his hand to the wall in rage and snarled, "They have dragon with them, that fucking son of a bitch!"

Deidara's blood turned cold. "Dra-dragon, un?" He squeaked.

"Yes, dragon." Onoki slammed his body down on an empty chair and grabbed his head with both hands in depressing manner. "What should I do to fight against such creature? That's fucking cheating!"

The blonde's mind was blank. He didn't even tease his old man for swearing so much like he usually did.

Dragon? Western people had capture his dragon in just half a month long? Deidara hands curled into fists so hard that he vaguely felt his armor pierced through his skin. He couldn't accept it! He found the creature first so it was his! Damnit!

"Onoki, tell me what to do," Deidara said between gritted teeth. There was so much hatred in his voice, it even made Onoki looked up to him in surprise; Deidara was grinning like a mad man. "I'll make sure that Western bitches pay with their blood, un!"

-x-

Deidara slashed his enemy's neck, killing him instantly. "Another one down, un," The blonde muttered under his breath. His armor had already covered in blood of his foes. Around him several bodies without head lying lifelessly on the ground that had been spoiled with black blood.

"As skillful as ever, Deidara," the man with auburn hair commented behind him, grinning. Deidara huffed. "You are more skillful than me, Yahiko, un."

The man just laughed and shook his head. Deidara didn't understand how the other could be as carefree in a dire situation like this.

Onoki still stayed at the castle, making a defense strategy to protect the castle from the dragon's attack. At first Deidara didn't agree with the man. Onoki's priority was solely on protecting the castle but not the whole city. It was their duty as a soldier to protect their people until the very last breath, not just to protect some stuck-up royalties or nobles. But again, if the king and royal family died, surely Eastern land would fall to the Western hand and his people would be their slaves.

Onoki, knowing what his step son was thinking, just smiled bitterly and said, _"I wanted to save everyone too, Deidara. However, I have to make a priority because the circumstance was impossible for me to save them all."_ So the man sent Deidara instead to do his best to protect their people for him. He ordered Deidara to join Yahiko's force at the outer fortress.

The city wall had been destroyed in several places, giving the enemy chance to infiltrate their city and it was their job to defend it as long as possible. "There are too many, un!" Deidara yelled to Yahiko, already engaged in fight with several other enemy soldiers. He had already fighting nonstop for hours, his energy was draining and fast. The archers on top of the fortress were firing fire arrows to the enemies outside the wall while Deidara, Yahiko and several other soldiers dealt with the enemies that were succeeded penetrating the first line defense.

"You can rest first if you want!" He heard the other yelled back, sword clashed against another, indicating that the auburn man was fighting with his own enemies too.

"Are you crazy?! Do you think we are in the middle of morning jogging or something, un?!" Deidara shouted and he earned another laugh from Yahiko. The man sure loved to laugh.

"Crazy bastard, un."

Suddenly a loud roar blaring through the sky, a large shadow fell upon the fighting soldiers. Something was blocking the sun light.

Deidara felt himself having a déjà vu. He looked up to the sky and his heart stopped.

Not just one but two dragons flew across the sky in their menacing form; with hard scales glistened from reflecting the sun light and strong black claws that would tear flesh into pieces in ease. The beasts were heading straight to the center of the city before dived dangerously low and flew in a circle around the city.

 _Shit._

Deidara never felt this scared before. He had been fighting with one dragon and almost lost his life. But now, there were two. The blonde felt his grip on his sword lessened; as if he had given up hope. He glanced at Yahiko that was also staring at the dragons; his expression was hard to read.

Is this the end for the Eastern land?

Deidara averted his eyes back at the two creatures that were now breathe fire throughout the city and swept around their tail to destroy everything within their reach. Strangely, something akin to relieve enveloped the blonde's heart; none of the dragons was his dragon. He could never been mistaken its vibrant red color to another. This new dragons' color was paler and less vibrant.

"Deidara," Yahiko called, turning to face his subordinate with a serious face, all his carefree attitude was gone. "Evacuate the city; save as many lives as you can. Our people's lives are more important than anything," he said with finality in his tone.

The blonde nodded. "Yes, sir!" With that, the young soldier rushed to the direction of the city.

Yahiko looked at Deidara's retreating figure for a moment, prying for his comrade's safety, before went back to face another enemy.

-x-

The smell of destruction, death, and despair were so heavy in the air. The city was in chaos. Black smokes were rising from burning houses, dead bodies lying everywhere; some of them was pitch black because of burned alive. People were screaming in fear and terror, trying to run as far as possible from the beasts that were destroying their home, children cried for their missing parents, but no one paid them mind; everyone was busy saving their own life. It was nightmare.

Deidara coughed several times because of the thick smoke around him. He had run through the city street, shouting commands to the civilians to take refugee at the castle. He thought that at this time, the castle would be the safest place for them to shelter in. Onoki would have already built a defense force there.

"Si-sir!" A young boy with brown hair, not older than seven, ran into Deidara out of nowhere. His small body was drenched in pale blue blood and the brunette was bleeding from his head. "Help my brother, sir!" The boy pleaded, bursting into tears.

Deidara squatted down so he was on eyes level with the kid. "What happened, un?" The blonde asked with emergency in his voice. He had a bad feeling about this. A very bad one.

"The-they are so many, sir!" The boy's body was shaking now. "M-my brother are still trying to fight them…Th-they killed Daddy…."

"Who are they?" Deidara cut the brunette's stutter short. He could only hope the answer was different from what he had in mind right now.

"Th-the black hair guys," said the boy barely above whisper. "Th-they came from the dragons…brother said to tell the man in armor that weren't black…"

Upon hearing that piece of information, Deidara froze. He somewhat knew something was up from several dead bodies he encountered during his run throughout the city, but he couldn't be so sure. Some bodies had large gash wound like it was inflicted by a sword instead of claw; only human could do that, and his theory was proven true.

Enemy had successfully infiltrated their city.

"Kid-," The blonde stood up then held the brunette's hand firmly, his countenance was stern. "-show me where your brother is, un."

Not wasting another time, the boy leaded Deidara to where his brother was, going on the opposite direction from the others civilians.

As soon as, they arrived at the scene, it had already been too late. Everyone was died, even the boy's brother. "Brother!" The brunette rushed to his brother's side and kneeled down, looking devastated.

Deidara looked at the massacre in front of him in disgust; pale blue blood everywhere. It was always a sickening scene he better not to see every time he was in a war. He preferred it was the black blood that stained the Earth, not his people's blood.

Deidara let the boy mourned for his lost while his eyes sweeping through every angle of the city, searching for enemy. His right hand hovered above his sword in precaution.

"Well, well, well," a voice, that seemed coming from the sky, said in mocking tone. Deidara instantly unsheathed his sword and looked up to the source of the voice, only to find enemies surrounded him from the rooftop of different houses.

Deidara cursed under his breath.

"Kid, come here, un." Deidara called out to the boy he had come with. The brunette ran to him obediently, looking confused before he realized they were surrounded by enemies. His small body shook again like a leaf blew away by wind.

"Listen, kid." Deidara placed his hands on the boy's shoulder. The child looked at him with puffy eyes and tears like rivers pouring down from his brown eyes, snot running down from his nose. "You go there," Deidara pointed out at the castle direction. "Search a man called Onoki. Tell him everything that you have told me before, do you understand, un?" The boy bobbed his head vigorously and Deidara gave him a small smile.

"Go!" Deidara ushered the boy to run when he saw the enemies charging down toward them.

Swords clashed. The blonde held back his foes' advance, trying to give the kid time to run. There were at least five enemies in the vicinity and Deidara knew there was still more.

"Your opponent is me, un!" He yelled and swung his sword, aiming at his enemy's neck.

The blonde fought alone, ready to die in defending his birth land. He knew his chance to defeat the enemies this much was low; he might not be survived to see another day. The enemy kept coming from nowhere, attacking him from every direction, but the young soldier skillfully dodged the attack and strategically engaged them in one on one battle.

Deidara was running out of energy, it wouldn't be long until he was too worn out to even raise his sword. An enemy sneaked from behind without the blonde noticing. When Deidara realized his back was open, it was already too late.

"Agh!" The blonde cried in pain, but managed to turn over in swift motion to counter attack his attacker and killed him. He stumbled slightly but hurriedly stood straight again. His back was hurt like hell, he grimaced. Another enemy suddenly attacked him from the front and successfully stabbed his stomach. Deidara let out another agony cry.

"Accept your lost, blondie," his enemy said, smirking, pushing his sword deeper and twirled it. Deidara cringed in pain but he couldn't help but chuckled. "Look closer, loser, un."

The man's eyes widened when he looked down at his open stomach before slumped down to the ground.

Deidara's breathed heavily; his body couldn't take it anymore. He bent over, stabbing his sword into the ground to support himself. The blond pulled out the enemy sword from his stomach and threw it carelessly on the ground; fresh blood immediately poured down from his wound.

When Deidara was busy treated his wound, he heard a roar from the sky above him, and a shadow fell upon him. Deidara snorted bitterly. Just as his body had refused to move, the beast must fly to his location. How ironic.

So…he would die burning in flame, huh, the blonde thought. Not bad. He loved fire anyway. Deidara closed his eyes; ready to meet his end.

Suddenly an ear-splitting roar that was more frightening than the first filled the air. Everything was suddenly became silent; too silent, it was scary. Deidara's blood turned cold, his hands shook violently.

 _What's this? What is this feeling of hopelessness?_

Deidara was scared shitless. He braved himself to looked up to the sky to see the dragon that almost burned him to crisp attacked by another dragon; bigger, stronger, more ferocious and more dangerous, with blazing vibrant red color.

It was the dragon Deidara encountered at Southern island.

Deidara didn't know if he must be happy to meet his dragon again or not. But something tell him that the red dragon wasn't here to destroy their land.

The new dragon was now throwing itself to the smaller one and the two crashed into the ground, causing an earthquake and large amount of dust to rise up into the air. The red dragon placed his weight on top of the other, claw circled around the other dragon's neck, making the smaller one trashed around to release itself to no avail. However, unexpectedly, the other dragon that came with the smaller one before, with paler red color that almost looked like pink, came to his comrade rescue, clawing the red dragon and made it released his lock on the dragon below.

The red dragon flew away, maintaining a distance away from the others. Its eyes followed their every move like a hawk. It growled loudly and the others growled back. The beast kept growling to each others for sometimes as if they were talking, until the larger dragon breathed fire vertically into the sky. It seemed their talking didn't go well.

The red dragon spread its large red wings wider and the thorns at its tail stood up. It seemed to make itself more menacing to intimidate the other dragons, like typical animal's nature when it tried to keep its domain and scared the enemy away. It growled again menacingly but the two other dragons dashed in the red dragon direction and another fight broke out.

"Such a divine beast, aren't they?"

Deidara's attention turned to the newcomer that was approaching him with grace movement and his eyes widened. His mouth suddenly felt so dry.

In front of him stood a man with black long hair, tied in a loose ponytail, with equal black eyes. His armor though, it was black with a green glowed, unlike the common armor which was either silver, gold, or bronze; clearly made from a new material Deidara had never seen before.

The man emitted a dark aura around him that screamed danger. He also had this authority air around him. The young soldier immediately knew that this man clearly on a very different level with any enemies he had encountered until now.

This one was on Onoki's level, maybe more.

Deidara's brain started to work a strategy to escape, because there is no way he could defeat this man in his current condition. He might have a slim change if he was in a better condition, but reality said otherwise.

Deidara pulled out his sword from the ground, but before he could do anything his body slammed to the ground and an intense pain shot through all his being making him screamed.

"I just want to see the one who responsible of killing my soldiers." Deidara looked up to see the man stomped at his stomach, right in his fresh newly wound. His sword had been thrown out of his reach when he fell. Deidara used the both of his hands to lift the man's leg but it was futile; he had no energy left to fight.

His enemy stared at Deidara for a moment, his face cold and indifferent. "You are just a weakling," he said, adding another weight to Deidara's wound, making him screamed again. However, his scream was swallowed by another ear-splitting roar from the sky.

The smaller dragons had successfully wounded the bigger one and now it howled in pain. Deidara vaguely notice the wound was in exact same place where he had slashed the dragon at the lake.

That's a dirty move. The blonde felt his anger raised.

The red dragon swung its thorny tail with difficulty and it hit the smaller one, making it fell to ground and didn't move again. The other one leap on the red dragon's back and bit it, claws pierced through the hard scales. Another howl emitted from the wounded dragon. It trashed around to make the small dragon on its back release its clutch, but it was futile.

Unexpectedly, the bigger dragon stopped flapping its wing and fell down to the Earth with its back first.

Deidara knew what it would do.

With the help of gravitational force plus the dragon's weight itself, the smaller one crushed between the red dragon and the ground. It howled in pain and looked so weak. However, it was a suicidal act, as the red dragon too got the impact after falling from that height. Deidara just hoped his dragon would be okay.

"You seemed distracted," the raven haired man above him commented. Deidara, for a moment, had indeed forgotten about his own situation. The man's calculating eyes observe the young soldier' face intently, before saying, "You know the new dragon."

It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"No, I don't, un," the blonde said through gritted teeth but it didn't seem to convince the stranger.

As if a miracle, the man removed his foot from Deidara, the latter eyeing his enemy suspiciously.

"I will spare your life this time," the raven said. He unsheathed his sword and turned around.

"I don't need your pity, un!" Deidara shouted but ignored by the stranger. If there was anything the young soldier loathed in this world, it was being indebted with an enemy. "Kill me, damnit! You coward, un!"

Deidara waited for the other to come back and killed him but none of that happened.

After the Western knight gone, Deidara just laid on the ground, looking at the sky. He couldn't do anything but waiting for help. Every breath he took was like a thousand needle pierced through his body. He knew he was dying.

Deidara didn't know how long he remained unmoving on his own puddle of blood, but vaguely he felt his body lifted from the ground.

"Sorry, I'm late," a voice said softly before the blonde lost his consciousness.

* * *

 **Some informations:**

 **I make Yagura (and Sasori) taller than Deidara, and Yahiko as Yahiko, not Pain. That means he has a carefree attitude and doesn't have any piercings.**

 **I'm too lazy thinking of the four lands names so I use four cardinal directions.**

 **Also, if anyone think this story is racist or something, I will firmly tell you, no, it's not. This story has nothing to do with real world whatsoever.**


End file.
